Assemblyman James Gallagher’s dam safety bill signed into law

Assemblyman James Gallagher and other legislators eat lunch and discuss the Lake Oroville Dam and spillway incident and current situation during a gathering at the Southside Oroville Community Center in Oroville on Feb. 15. Gallagher’s dam safety bill was signed into law on Monday by Gov. Jerry Brown.
Bill Husa — Enterprise-Record

Sacramento >> Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law on Monday a bill aimed at tightening dam inspection requirements which was introduced by Assemblyman James Gallagher.

Assembly Bill 1270 requires annual inspections for most of the state’s dams, reservoirs and appurtenant structures such as spillways and power plants with new standards for those inspections, consultation with independent experts to update dam safety practices every 10 years and periodic reviews of original design and construction records.

The bill was introduced by Gallagher, R-Yuba City, in reaction to the Oroville Dam spillway crisis. That occurred just over one year ago, when about 188,000 people downstream were forced to flee their homes for fear water from a full reservoir would come crashing down on the communities below.

An exception is made in the bill for low hazard potential structures, which will have to be inspected every two years. Facilities like Oroville Dam are considered to have a high hazard potential because their failure would result in loss of life.

The new law also demands that inspection records be made public, with sensitive information redacted. The bill unanimously passed in the Senate on Feb. 5 and in the Assembly on Feb. 12. It is an urgency bill, meaning once signed, it goes into effect immediately.

About the Author

Risa Johnson covers local politics in Butte County and the City of Oroville for the Chico Enterprise-Record and Oroville Mercury-Register newspapers. Since February 2017, she has written extensively about the Oroville Dam crisis. She is a proud alumna of Chico State University. Reach the author at rjohnson@chicoer.com
or follow Risa on Twitter: @risamjohnson.